US investment company Blackstone has confirmed plans to invest £10bn into one of Europe’s largest artificial intelligence data centres, to be developed in Blyth, Northumberland.

More than 4,000 jobs will be created, including 1,200 roles during construction - which is expected to begin next year. 

The site will store the vast amount of data needed to power AI and to store the information generated by AI systems.

The deal with Blackstone, facilitated by the Office for Investment, will also benefit the local community in Blyth - which suffered as a result of the failure of BritishVolt.

Blackstone is to invest £110m into a fund to support further skills training and transport infrastructure in the area.

The government says the UK is already home to the highest number of data centres in Western Europe and just last month, it classed data centres as Critical National Infrastructure.

Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer of Blackstone, said: “The UK is a top investment market for Blackstone because of its powerful combination of talent and innovation along with a highly transparent legal system.

“We are making significant commitments to building social housing, facilitating the energy transition, growing life sciences companies and developing critical infrastructure needed to fuel the digital economy.

“This includes a projected £10bn investment to build one of Europe’s largest hyperscale data centres supporting 4,000 jobs. Blackstone is committed to Britain.”

Prime minister Keir Starmer said the investment was a “huge vote of confidence in the UK” and it proved Britain is “open for business”.

Starmer said he seeking to “rebuild Britain’s reputation as an investment destination” to drive growth and create opportunities.

This comes ahead of the UK’s International Investment Summit in October, which is set to bring together hundreds of leading CEOs and investors set to attend representing the best of business across the globe, with an ambitious programme to showcase the UK’s economic strengths.

The news follows the recent announcement by DC01UK which has submitted a planning application for the construction of a £3.75bn data centre in Hertsmere, Hertfordshire.

Amazon Web Services has also announced a five-year, £8bn investment to support around 14,000 jobs per year at local businesses, including those across the company’s data centre supply chain such as construction, facility maintenance, engineering and telecommunications, as well as well as other jobs within the broader local economy.

AWS – Amazon’s cloud computing arm - estimates that these investments in the UK will contribute £14bn to the UK’s total GDP from 2024 to 2028.